Defense lawyer Jason Williams, who last month was elected to the New Orleans City Council, argue the government should provide more specifics about which points within documents cited by prosecutors allegedly show wrongdoing.

"What we are asking for is necessary for the defense," Williams told U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Knowles.

Materials provided by the prosecution are voluminous and appear to lack any illegal passages, Williams said.

"We're not asking which witnesses or evidence they will put on," he said. "We're not asking them to show their hand."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dall Kammer, however, said the defense's request for a "bill of particulars" detailing 26 points from the federal indictment, would in fact compromise the government's case. He said the detail level in the indictment was standard.

"I give the date," Kammer said, describing information he has disclosed. "I give what the document is. That's the document I'm going to charge as false and misleading."

"I printed up each and every document referenced in this indictment and handed it to them," Kammer said.

"So, they're on notice," about what they are accused of, he said. "Having me tell exactly how I'm going to prove my case, I can't go into that."

Knowles said balancing needed information sharing with trial strategy considerations always is a delicate task. He said would weigh the question of the "bill of particulars" after the hearing ended.

The call for sharing more specifics comes from one of the defendants, Peter Hoffman, a lawyer and film producer from Los Angeles who was a partner in the project to convert a mansion at 807 Esplanade Avenue into a film editing center with residential space for people working on post-production for film projects.

The prosecution last week issued a fresh indictment that added charges and one defendant, Hoffman's estranged wife Susan Hoffman, a film producer. The other partner charged in the case is New Orleans lawyer and actor Michael Arata. Arata is married to New Orleans Deputy Mayor Emily Sneed, whose name is not mentioned in the film industry tax credit case.

The 22 counts in the latest indictment include conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements to an FBI agent.